Christmas at Stitchers
by PoisonousWhiteRose
Summary: This was part of a stitchers secret santa gift exchange on tumblr.


Kristen walked in to the apartment and paused on the threshold. She smelled smoke. But Cameron was cooking and Cameron wasn't prone to burning anything. In fact, she couldn't remembered the last time that had happened. Of course, with the holidays fast approaching Kristen could understand, at least somewhat, that Cameron was nervous. Kristen had left today to give him some space and to buy him a gift, which was supremely easy, even though he had virtually everything, he didn't have what had yet to come out. Which was why she had got him a subscription to big comic book companies. Among them; DC and Marvel and a few other ones that she wasn't as familiar with. The giant nerd was going to love it. She hoped that he would like it as much as she thought, at least. Sometimes she couldn't tell.

After what had happened in the stitch lab that last time, where she had to pretend that she didn't know him to save his life, she had sensed that he pulled away a little. To be expected, for sure. In fact, most everyone was feeling left out by Kristen but she couldn't explain it to them fully. She could only give them vague details and she hated it. But if she expanded on anything then they would all be in so much danger that Kristen would hate herself for getting them into it. Cameron peered around the corner to see her still dumbstruck by the noxious fumes emanating from the kitchen. "Oh. Hey! You're back! So did you get everything you needed? What were you going out for anyway?"

Kristen wasn't going to tell him about gift shopping for him. She may not fully understand emotions; she was still processing a lot of them; nor did she get time, at all, but she did understand the element of surprise even if she couldn't get surprised. Kristen was determined to not tell Cameron about what she had gotten him, even though before she would have told him and given it to him right off the bat. She reached out and grabbed Cameron as he came closer. Turning up her face, Cameron greeted her with a sweet, soft kiss. Kristen loved the fact that he was able to look past the lies she had had to tell. The terrible things that she had to tell him: she didn't recognize him. Kirsten thought that was the hardest thing that she had had to go through in her life. Not knowing about Ed or her mother didn't even come close. She had known that they were dead or near dead.

But to not be able to experience the new feelings that had been lurking in the background. Cameron had suffered but Kristen had felt like she had died when his face had fallen after she had told him all the lies. The horrendous black smoke distracted them from taking the kiss any further. Though, as she passed the bedroom door she thought she might convince him to _maybe_ do something later. After the kitchen had been extinguished.

Cameron turned to her sheepishly and asked her to go wait in the living room. Though, since the design was loft-like, she could still see into the kitchen, she didn't really understand why she had to go wait in the living room. But Kristen shrugged and turned towards the living room, opening her mouth to start asking him what had gone wrong. Before she could get a word in, the alarm sounded. The beep-beep-beep sound pierced the air and made it impossible to think, much less speak. The smoke had finally reached the alarm that had been placed on the highest point in his apartment and it was making it hard to see. Kristen turned around, towards the kitchen and couldn't see Cameron. The smoke was that dense and that dark. She shook her head and went to look for a stool. Finding one in a nook, she climbed on top and turned off the alarm. The deafening silence was jarring and hastened her climb down from the stool.

Cameron emerged from the black smoke as Kristen got closer. "Thanks." Cameron said with a shake of his head.

"What is going on?" Kristen went to open the windows to air out the apartment and waited on Cameron to answer her.

"Well. Um. So I wanted to make a special holiday dinner for you since it's our first as a couple and would set a precedent for the rest of our holidays but um….apparently I can cook anything but mashed potatoes."

Kristen was smiling gently until the last bit. "Wait. All of this smoke was from mashed potatoes?" She started chuckling and couldn't stop. The chuckling turned to belly laughs which turned to guffaws. Cameron just looked on in astonishment. He didn't think he had ever heard Kristen laugh like this. And he was sort of glad he was the reason. Even if it was at his expense.

"Sorry. OK. You don't have to make a special dinner. It's us, Cam. Not to sound cheesy but we make it special all by ourselves." Kristen drew closer to Cameron and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Right?" She questioned, her eyebrow ticking up.

"Yeah," Cameron whispered, "you're right" He enveloped Kristen in his arms and they just stood there, in front of his windows, the very ones that they had once looked out of to save a bunch of girls from a human trafficking ring, gently swaying as the smoke cleared out.

The next day started out much the same. Cameron, telling her this time, tried a second time to get mashed potatoes edible and Kristen went out to finish shopping. Christmas was the next day. She was a procrastinator when it came to things like this. To begin with, since she hadn't "had" feelings, she couldn't really tell what people would like or get excited about and besides, she hadn't understood the emotions and giddiness that seemed to surround the holiday season. And she couldn't keep track of time so by the time Christmas day would arrive and she would attempt to buy a gift for someone, usually Camille, if she would buy a gift at all, the stores would all be closed and she couldn't do anything about it. Being with Cameron, however, aside from regaining her feelings and being able to tell time, helped. A lot. And she was going to make an effort. Since Camille was dating Amanda, Kristen thought to give them something. But she would have to invite them over and she wasn't sure when it was suitable. Most people, she had learned, would be having parties tonight and tomorrow but she was sure that Camille and Linus had their own plans and she didn't want to intrude. And she wanted to be alone with Cameron for a little while longer. They had been in a sort of little bubble and she didn't want to pop it yet.

Ivy and Kristen weren't ready to spend the holidays together so that was out of the question. Kristen wasn't sure what to do. She took one last look around the shopping center and decided that she had had enough and would go home. As long as Cameron hadn't burned it down.

By the time she got home, Cameron had finished not doing dinner. As soon as the door opened beneath her touch, she could smell the smoke. Shaking her head, Kristen came in already coughing. "Cameron! Maybe you should stop trying to make mashed potatoes!" She waved her hands in front of her face in an attempt to dispel the plume that was coming from the stove top.

"It wasn't the mashed potatoes this time! It was the cranberry sauce. And the turkey got burned and the stuffing came out like oatmeal! I don't know what happened!" Cameron's shouts were coming from behind her. When she turned around she saw him with a fire extinguisher. A fire extinguisher! It wasn't that bad yesterday! Kristen was surprised. Cameron didn't usually mess up this much.

After the fire was extinguished with a whoosh and they had, once again, opened all the windows and set up fans, since this one was worse than last night's, she turned toward Cameron, her hands on her hips and a bewildered expression on her face. Her hair was sticking to her neck with the heat that remained in the apartment. Cameron's usually fluffy curls now lay in a mass of sweat as he paced on the threshold of the kitchen. Kristen looked on from the other side of the room. "Cameron, are you OK?" Maybe she had missed something in the chaos of the holidays. She remembered how she wanted to take things into the bedroom last night and thought maybe that's what they needed. Some alone time doing what they did best.

Just hanging out.

She went into the kitchen, interrupting Cameron's path and seemingly confusing him. "What are you doing, Stretch?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? Cam, we don't need to have a traditional meal to celebrate Christmas together. We will act like it's just another normal day. OK?"

Cameron wasn't convinced. "I don't know, Betty. I kinda wanted to make a big deal about it."

"Yeah I got that, Jughead. But I don't want you to make a big deal if it means you are going to burn down your apartment. Now, I am going to get your gift, you get mine and then we are going into the bedroom. Got it?"

Cameron smiled wryly and nodded, heading off to the hiding place where he had put her gift. It was a new software he had developed just for her. Kristen was already waiting in the room, with her phone in her hand, like she had just hung up on somebody. "Hey, you call somebody?"

"Yeah. Since dinner is inedible, and we do need to eat, I called the Chinese place. They are going to deliver and we can just stay in. Now we exchange gifts and then we watch a movie."

"What movie?"

"Like I'm going to tell you."

Cameron, smiling brightly, handed over the flash drive, relishing the look of confusion on Kristen's face. Her eyebrows scrunched as she tried to figure out what was in it and, when she gave up, she looked up at him and asked, "What is this?"

He smiled and told her, watching her face as she smiled and came closer to him. He enclosed her in his embrace and tightened his arms around her. When she had told him that she didn't recognize him, his heart shattered. But when she told him it was all a lie to protect him and that they still had to keep up appearances in the real world, he started to heal a little. Not so much, since he couldn't take her out on dates and they had to sneak around but at least he had her. And they were all working together to make the problem disappear permanently so that everyone could relax again.

She pushed away and gave him his present. He didn't want to tell her he had already signed up for the subscription because she seemed so damn happy about getting a present that he would like. So he didn't ruin it and just hugged her again. They were getting settled and Kristen was putting the movie in; she wouldn't tell him what movie they were watching. The doorbell rang and Cameron got the food.

By the time he returned from getting the food and paying, Kristen had cued up the movie. They laid down on the bed and started eating, putting sustenance over entertainment. When they were almost done with everything, Kristin hit play on the movie and a familiar theme started playing.

His jaw dropped and he looked at Kristin. "This is my favorite movie."

"I know" Kristen smirked.

They stretched out on the bed and got comfortable and watched the movie. By midnight, the pair was fast asleep, cuddling each other while the movie played on.

Cameron woke up with a smile on his face and his favorite person in the world in his arms. She awoke soon after him and the two didn't leave the bed the entire weekend. Not even to get food. After that first hour they built a nest and spent Christmas Day watching their favorite movies on repeat.

And Cameron couldn't have wished for a better first Christmas.


End file.
